eating our way through o'ahu

 the next morning, i found a note that hotel staff had slipped under the door:

a quick peek downstairs showed that high winds were not a deterrent to the crowds that were already enjoying sun and waves down at the beach.  heh.

while the hub and the bean slept in a little more, i placed a mobile order for our island lattes and made my way down to go and pick them up.  the daily yoga class had just finished up and i was amused to see that like everything else at this resort, the mats were a bright, beautiful shade of pink.

while that would normally be enough incentive to get me out there for a class, i have to admit that i really don't love yoga.  not that it isn't challenging as hell...i just find it boring af.  heh.

i picked up our coffees, headed back up to the room to wait for the others to get ready and took mine out on the balcony to enjoy the breeze and the sounds of the ocean.  those are the moments i dream about when we're back home and i wanted to take advantage of every chance i got to soak it all in.

outfit of the day - a me-made coverup dress over a bathing suit because you just never know when there might be an opportunity for a nice dip in the water.

and we made sure to grab our floaties too, for the same reason.

the bean was craving some fresh mochi, so we revisited a spot we'd found on a previous trip: nisshodo candy store, serving up delicious japanese confections for 90 years.

the old lady had sent us an instagram reel by someone who had ranked all of the most well-known shave ice spots, and since we were fairly close to one of them we stopped in to give it a try.  shimazu shave ice shares a space with a few other food vendors in a little building right next door to rainbow drive-in (which i still have yet to try, maybe next visit?).

the ice was very finely shaved and melted in my mouth instantly, kind of like cotton candy.  it was indeed delicious and definitely gives waiola a run for their money.

as we made our way out of the honolulu/waikiki area we finally got a taste of those high winds that we'd been warned about.

it seemed that this was our day to eat all kinds of fun stuff, because our next stop was ono seafood for some delicious poke.

we drove around a little more, just doing some sightseeing from the car and then decided we wanted to go back and take a nap.  hahaha!  all of those good eats had sent us into a classic food coma and it was time to sleep it off for a bit.

by the time we woke up again, guess what?  yup - time to go eat again.  this was SO my kinda trip.

this time, we walked across the street and up the elevator to grab a table at liliha bakery.  on our last visit to o'ahu we'd hit up liliha on our first day, but since we knew we had one of their newest locations so close to our hotel we hadn't been in a rush to go.  

if you only get one thing here, it has to be this basket of warm, toasted buttery rolls served with their delicious housemade jam.  this stuff is like crack, i tell you (not that i've ever done crack. i guess that's kind of a stupid description, but you get what i mean).

the rest of our meal was pretty basic - loco moco, steak, breakfast for dinner.  and then as the bean and i got comfy in our beds while the hub went downstairs for a cigar and an evening adult beverage, they went into the fridge and busted out the last of the poke as a midnight snack.

what a day, amirite?

celebrating the hub

on the hub's actual birthday, this package was delivered to our doorstep:

the ILs had asked me to help assemble a fun little surprise they wanted to give him, and when i was done it looked like this:

the kids and i all met him at tutti mangia in claremont for his birthday dinner.  because of course, what's a birthday without some delicious food to celebrate with?  he'd already enjoyed a nice long lunch with one of his longtime clients, and proceeded to sit in his car for an hour getting caught up on missed calls and emails that couldn't wait till the next day.

we kicked off dinner with some carpaccio and a plate of burrata and prosciutto.  

after we placed our orders for our main entrees, we handed the hub a few fun presents that we'd saved so that he had something to open on the actual day.  have i ever mentioned that my husband is a huge notorious B.I.G. fan?  

he had fun reading the silly cards we had for him, and then the food arrived.  he'd decided to break his keto diet for the orrechette, which came with chicken, more prosciutto, spinach and mushrooms in a cream sauce.

the bean went big with the ribeye steak.  this kid is not a cheap date.

the old lady went with the pappardelle served with braised short ribs and a generous serving of freshly grated parmesan cheese.  her special friend was there too, but i somehow didn't see what he'd ordered.  oops.

as for me, i decided to step out of the box and ordered the linguini neri - squid ink pasta (my first time!) with butter poached lobster and a delicious tomato beurre blanc sauce.

after we'd devoured everything, our server dropped off a little birthday treat.  we sang the birthday song as quietly as we could, while the hub made a wish and blew out the candle.

and then we ordered the flourless chocolate cake served with chocolate ganache and hazelnut brittle to share.

i think he was pleased with his birthday celebrations.  for a guy who doesn't love attention and doesn't ever ask for presents (opposites attract indeed, yes?), he seemed to enjoy our efforts to make his milestone birthday special.

so many good eats...and working 'em off

the dead zone between christmas and new year's went by in a big blur for us.  we didn't really do much but hang out at home and play with all the new toys we all got for christmas, but we also threw in a whole lot of eating.

one morning, the bean got up and asked us to stay in bed so she could make us some breakfast.  except that we had slept in so late that i ended up not being able to follow her instructions and had to leave for an appointment before she was done.  bummer, because she'd worked really hard and had mixed up some pancake batter from scratch and was happily flipping the most perfectly golden pancakes you ever did see.

and then the hub decided to share one of his newest discoveries with us...a little hole-in-the-wall in pomona, of all places, in the middle of an industrial area and open for business for 30-plus years:

it was like a time warp inside, with a simple menu and lots of vintage photos of the area adorning the walls.

the food was simple, but really tasty.  here's the beef french dip:

corned beef:

and pastrami.

the next day, we ventured out to p-town again - this time, for some chicken and waffles at day day's.

i was pretty stoked to order a glass of watermelon kool-aid.  it was delicious and the bean was happy to share it with me.

and when the grub came out, it was fresh and hot and so delicious.  i think it's actually replaced roscoe's in my heart.  i don't know what they do to that chicken, but it was SO GOOD.

with all that good stuff in my belly, i had to make it a point to get to barre classes to work it all off.  and at the end of my last class for 2017, we were treated to 50% off retail items in the studio, plus a nice little glass of bubbles to celebrate.

i managed to eke out over 100 classes over 2017, but still ran short of the next milestone (750 classes) by at least another 100.  that' okay, though.  it sounds like there's another 20-in-30 challenge coming up, and when that's over, as long as i meet my goal of a minimum of 3 classes per week i'm pretty sure i'll be able to hit that 750 at some point this year.

goals.  i haz 'em.

eating like locals

we checked off three more places off of our list the next day.  up first:  liliha bakery, which popped up on the list with a recommendation for their specialty:  coco puffs, a combination of light pastry with chocolate pudding and chantilly cream piped inside.  they've got a full-service diner inside too, and so that's where we headed for breakfast.

i think we got lucky visiting a lot of these places during the week because we didn't have to wait to get in to most of them.  checking yelp reviews for all of the places on the list told us that a good number of them are popular with locals, which usually translates to long waits to get seated.  liliha was nice and quiet when we got there, and we were seated almost immediately.

watching plates go from the kitchen to tables helped us decide what to order from the menu.

as recommended, we ordered fluffy butter rolls split and grilled.  it was served with a bright red jelly that the bean said reminded her of hawaiian punch.  and she was right...that's exactly what it tasted like.  so, so, so good.

the old lady and i had decided to split an order of french toast to go with our eggs and spam.  it was super buttery and extra tasty.

the hub had opted for their special "waffard" - a crisp waffle served with dollops of custard, whipped cream and berries plus mixed nuts on the side.

we were all super stuffed by the end of the meal, but that didn't stop us from making a pitstop in the bakery on our way out.  heh.

and of course, the famous coco puffs.

as much as we were tempted by the wide variety of baked goodness, we managed to stick mostly to what we'd come for.

while we were having breakfast, we were looking at the list again and realized that another spot was just a mile away.  and so we plugged the address into the GPS and after a little confusion, we found nisshodo candy shop tucked away behind a little strip mall:

the lady at the counter was super duper grumpy, and didn't tolerate too many questions.  we decided to stick mostly to what we recognized and their specialty, little pieces of mochi called chichi dango.  it was all freshly made, chewy and soft, and just lightly sweetened.  yum.

later that evening, we hit up one more on the list - kyung's seafood, somewhat of a hole in the wall with pretty limited seating and lots of folks bustling in and out with take-out orders.

here they're known for super fresh and cheap sashimi platters, poke, tasty korean dishes and a strawberry soju that they served by the pitcher:

 
the old lady opted for bulgogi:

i went with a combo of poke (which is what the bean ordered) and meat jun:

and the hub ordered one of the sashimi platters.

the owner was really funny - friendly, a little liquored up and happy to buy rounds of drinks for various tables.  the food was all just as delicious and fresh as we'd read, and i think this was the hub's favorite spot on the whole list.

mmmm.  i love eating our way through cities.  best part of traveling!